Murphy beds.....anyone got one in their own home ?

We have this one in our spare room
https://www.wayfair.co.uk/furniture/pdp/brayden-studio-terrones-daybed-bryd1332.html

Which means we can both use the spare room as an office - with full size desks and chairs - and still pull it down if needed overnight. It's been pretty good so far, and works how we need it to, and the cabinet the bed folds into is deep enough to store decent-sized boxes on top. I would recommend getting heftier brackets than it comes with though (which are just 2 that attach to the wall via the top of the cabinet), and perhaps even a couple of extra ones to anchor it halfway down the sides - which is what I did as our walls don't inspire confidence.

We’ve got a double that folds up at the headboard end in the spare room.

I’ve not yet managed to ‘finish’ it so there is no headboard (and the gap opens when folded down so you lose your pillows) and it looks ugly when folded away.

Plan is to build it into a cupboard and have some rotating shelves on the ‘front’ of it for storage. These should stay horizontal as you lower the frame and then sit under the bed.

I’d have to search for the sellers emails, but delivery and product quality has been fine.

Zed bed?

Zed bed?

Has its own space issues when you get up to double size.

Same with the self inflating jobs ...even the full height ones. I had the please of one of those at Xmas.....

Interesting folk have got em. Never even knew what they were called- never seen them in a shop over here.

So far Google has yielded *wallbedking* *wallbeddirect* and *londonwallbeds*

Yeah, inflatables are utter balls, I hate them. I'd rather be on a thermarest on the floor. Sofa beds are the obvious solution but still take up more space than a Murphy.

I'm sure I saw them somewhere on here, maybe @Kayak23 made one?

We have a sofa bed currently
It's over twice as deep as a Murphy and isn't even a full length double when it folds out.

And my parents + the in-laws are both of an age where being less than 10 inches off the floor isn't helpful in the morning.

I had a Murphy bed, it was great, but my father kept singing a song that went something like this:

My mother - in - law, she is dead,
Hum - de - de - de - de - de.
She got caught in a folding bed,
Hum - de - de - de - de - de.
Ever since my mother - in - law's been dead,
People have come to me,
Wanting to buy that bed.
For they all have mother - in laws you see,
Oh, Hum - de - de - de - de - de.
Hum - de - de - de - de.
Hum - de - de - de - de - de.

Yeah our sofa bed is an easy 45-50cm high, it's a total folder (as in you don't sit on the mattress) and full length but still comes with the depth penalty. More like a 3 fold zedbed than the futon on a drawer type. If you don't have any luck with a Murphy it's at least a thought.

Murphy is a good shout though, it wouldn't be hard to build something if it came to it, it's just a matter of finding the right weight of spring hinge for the bed.

I just finished building my own. Considered the hardware kits but in the end decided to copy https://www.loribeds.com/.

It's all 18mm ply with the edges faced with veneer, two layers to make the structure a chunky 36mm (there's actually only two uprights and the curved vertical uprights that are true 36mm, everything else is just a offcut strip to frame out from the wall and under the leading edge of the shelves.

It's great for my use, the room was too small for a double and anything more than a single wardrobe, now it's an office. Admittedly the bed is heavy and cumbersome to raise and lower but it only needs to come down about four times a year so it really doesn't matter. For something that's going to be used every weekend I would have gone with one of the DIY designs that uses pivots and a counterweight under the head end of the bed.

And although heavy, it's very sturdy...I can climb up the shelves and I've no doubt I could stand on the desk if I wanted.

Originally I wanted a 'no hardware' stay level desk (search YouTube) but decided the added complexity wasn't worth it, so the desk just slides out and has folding legs so it fits under the lowered bed. Eventually I'd like to wall mount a 21:9 monitor to it that would stay there when lowering.

If anyone is seriously interested I'll see if I still have my plans/cutting list.

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Your kreg get a good work out making that ?

Looks great. Food for thought but with the price of timber currently surely.cost as much as a premade in wood alone ?

Although -no MDF is a good. Thing
That thing will outlast us 🙂

- out spare rooms look similarly sized...

6 sheets 8*4 £300
Folding legs £25
Veneer was £40
Osmo Polyx clear and tint £65
Some glue and screws

So £430 and quite a few riding days missed (did the main structure this time last year and finished it before Christmas so not the best riding weather anyway!)

The kits generally still come with timber unfinished, don't have the storage either side and don't have a desk either.

(Kreg, surprisingly only for the sides that keep the mattress on the base I think!)

PS Yesterday my wife turfed me out so I'm at the dining table! And you've reminded me that I had meant to post this on the last thing you made thread...

@spooky_b329 that looks like it may solve a problem I have (and generally ace). Can I ask what you used as a pivot?

@ewan

Its basically one of these

However that design is 'compromised' really to make it flat packable for home assembly. I stiffened mine up by running the uprights all the way top to bottom, the pivot is simply the curved base of the uprights. The base of the bed is more than one sheet of ply so plan your cuts so they are covered/supported by the uprights and shelves.

You could use lightweight ply, (expensive) or a central 18mm plywood core with loads of bulk cut out with a jigsaw so it just becomes a spacer and then faced with 3mm plywood so its partially hollow to make the bed lighter if you really wanted to lighten it. Mine actually got more fiddly to lift when I veneered the raw edge of the plywood as when you lift the bed, it now wants to slide on the carpet, so I might add a bit of grip tape just to the bottom curve!

Ah cunning! Are you using bolts or something to secure it top and bottom?

4 normal door bolts (with proper screws rather than the junk ones they come with), and the desk just adds a bit of reassurance that it won't come down. And I've got two bolts underneath to hold the desk in just incase someone pulls it out accidentally and tips everything on the floor, but they are not doing anything as the desk slides into deep channels in the uprights.

It would be easy to add a high level check strap that holds the bed 30cm from the frame if worried about kids messing. The frame is also fixed to the wall all the way along.

@spooky_b329 which folding legs did you use, thinking of making a folding wall desk (maybe a full Murphy bed like yours) and struggled to find anything good.

@sam_underhill

I used these, also available as from a B&Q 3rd party seller on DIY.com but they only had one in stock when I ordered. You can pop the ends off and hacksaw them down if needed.

https://www.fiteo.co.uk/product/adjustable-folding-breakfast-bar-worktop-support-table-leg/

We went slightly differently and got one of these for the bedroom that my wife uses as a study. Full sized double bed which converts very easily into a desk. Study Bed

Not cheap, but well built and it is comfortable to sleep in (two weeks of banishment with having Covid as test). About the only issue is that the bed is quite high.

Magic. Thanks